Professionals at the Olympics ???? Nothing wrong with the premise!

Boxing is a mercenary business at the best of times but the IOC are discussing whether to allow professionals to box at the Olympics.....

Sounds shocking but Athletes are professional, Bolt was worth a ton of money before winning the gold...Other sports... too many to name like Cycling, Soccer, Baseball, Tennis and Basketball all are participated in by professionals...

One might say why not professional Boxing....Really nothing wrong with the premise on paper..

However for an Amateur Boxer who doesn't want to enter the polluted, mercenary cut throat world of professional Boxing the Gold medal is the Everest of the sport and for me it would be another stake in the heart of the reputation of Boxing and the Olympic movement........Let's face it Tennis is all about Grand slams and Boxing is all about titles...Makes the gold medal seem cheap.....and kills a lot of dreams.

Who knows who the Olympic tennis champ is...I don't!!

However there is nothing wrong with professional boxers fighting at the Olympics......Some might say why not!!

I don't like it, I see it as almost a youth competition, bad enough with the Cuban's fighting 18 year olds in their mid 30s. Plus you wont get the best coming back, it would just be a strange mish mash of average pros and promising amateurs. The sport is too different as am and pro.

I like seeing future pro prospects rather than average guys which more experience. Don't want to cheapen it to a Prizefighter competition.

Agree with your point about tennis.

They've opened it up for 2016, haven't they? Something like they'd have to go through the same qualifying routine as everyone else... For no financial reward

How many pros can you see doing that? Fight infront of a load of fans and earn massive sums of money or fight for something on a ribbon that doesn't mean much when you've forgone a potential superfight that could've earnt you millions and helped cement a legacy?

Agree they 'could' do it, but why would they?

I can see Roy Jones trying for it in 2016...

Scottrf wrote:I can see Roy Jones trying for it in 2016...

A giant 10ft thick bit of headgear wouldn't stop him from getting sparked again

Scottrf wrote:I can see Roy Jones trying for it in 2016...

He's more chance of beating Nadal at Tennis...ironically, I'd pick Nadal to beat Roy in a fight these days

I have to agree with coxy-I don't think it'd be a particularly enticing prospect to any but the most mediocre pro. Fail to see the upside really.

DAVE667 wrote:

Scottrf wrote:I can see Roy Jones trying for it in 2016...

He's more chance of beating Nadal at Tennis...ironically, I'd pick Nadal to beat Roy in a fight these days

Unless he holds out for the paralympic event?

Michaels, Sean wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

Scottrf wrote:I can see Roy Jones trying for it in 2016...

He's more chance of beating Nadal at Tennis...ironically, I'd pick Nadal to beat Roy in a fight these days

Unless he holds out for the paralympic event?

Sadly there's every chance of being applicable for that at the rate he's going

Given the woeful state of boxing at the minute with, for example, the WBA having three LWW "Champions", I can see why pro's at the Olympics might appeal to some. Then again, I can also see a situation whereby the IOC then create a "Super Champion" "Diamond Champion" and "Champion Emeritus" (I think that's Audley)

Amatuer is very much a different sport to professional. You may as well say that we will put out our Rugby League side in the Rugby Union world cup. It's basically the same game separated by completely different rules!!

Without an aspiration like Olympic gold we could see more genuine talent suffer in the pros ..through turning professional too early ...resulting in lack of protection...basically seeing promising fighters and careers going down the pan....

However as other sports have professionals competing..there is an argument to suggest professional boxing at the Olympics is justified.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Without an aspiration like Olympic gold we could see more genuine talent suffer in the pros ..through turning professional too early ...resulting in lack of protection...basically seeing promising fighters and careers going down the pan....

However as other sports have professionals competing..there is an argument to suggest professional boxing at the Olympics is justified.

Surely "talent will out" despite not having that shiny gold medal. Audley's proved that they aren't any indicator of sucess in the pro ranks and Degale just found that his doesn't automatically gurantee him sucess. Khan only picked up a silver and he's done OK for himslef. As long as there are scouts at these amatuer shows, the genuinely good fighters will be discovered and brought along.

Andre Ward is only now reaping the rewards but his Olympic medal doesn't appear to have fast-tracked him anywhere.

Pretty soon, any Olympic medal will be at relevant as a "TV Quick" award.

Wow, an Olympic Medal in the Luge and BMX! I'll get the posh china out!

Talent doesn't always will out if it isn't nurtured....

Not that you'd know

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Talent doesn't always will out if it isn't nurtured....

Not that you'd know

By the time a fighter is ready for the Olympics, he's already pretty close to the top of his game. Chances are he's already competed, and done well, in the World Championships, so that talent has already been discovered and nurtured to a large degree.

Then again, commonsense would tell you that...if you possessed any!

Depends on the timing of the World championships ..and also if without the huge bonus incentive that comes with the label OLYMPIAN to try to garner....they think that the Worlds is a tournament worth fighting in....or sticking around for..

British achievement in the World championships over the years is mediocre it has to be said..

Our Olympians have hardly covered themselves in glory have they?

Calzaghe, Hatton and Haye didn't go to the Olympics and, wth varying degrees of success, still manged to make it big. I'd suggest the tag of "Olympian" may impress your nan or slightly slow cousin but if you're a follower of a particular sport, you tend to know who's half decent and who isn't worth flicking the channel over for. The day will come when it won't matter a jot...much like the Tour de France.

They get a good signing on fee if they qualify for the Olympics as the label OLYMPIAN is marketable...

The World championships hasn't that value..

Whether they have acquitted themselves well isn't the point....

At least they have had decent grooming.

As stated earlier, Audley's shown that being an Olympian isn't all that. The time will come when promotors wring that particular teat once too often and Joe Public says, "no more"

If, in the meantime, Mr and Mrs Public are still dazzled by such gaudy baubles (and generally don't follow the sport to such a degree) what's wrong will calling them a "World Amateur Champion" if no-one's going to really know the difference?

Anyway, getting off-topic so with regard to pro's being allowed to box in the Olympics, I can't see that many top flight guys going for it and you'll get your lower tier guys who struggle to get recognition from the main boxing bodies going for it.

Trouble, if you're unknown evenas a pro, I can't see that many people being impressed by your Olympic medal. Surely the boxing fan is going say, "Olympian? You mean you weren't good enough to get a shot a a real World title and took that route instead?"

There are always exceptions to every rule.....

Everyone's aspiration is the Olympics..It carries a high-value..

Olympic gold medals sell themselves so we can disagree..

Truss is right about the tag Olympian it can be a selling point ITV used it with Khan when he turned pro. The BBC tried it with Audrey.

I'm not sure I like the idea mainly because I could see it becoming a bit like prizefighter with guys only entering because they have nothing left to offer in the pros. I can't see the top guys entering unless it's in their home country.

Depends how they pick the entree I suppose KEV.....

Maybe a world champ at that weight might be offered the place.....

It's hard to see how they'd go about it..

As long as the pros never got preferential treatment and were worthy of their place then I don't see a problem with it. Personally I always look out for the Gold medallists after each Olympics I think it's the pinnacle of the amateur game and proves (in most cases) you are of a certain standard

Think it has to be one or the other barring somewhere like Cuba which of course has to be amateur..

Scottrf wrote:I can see Roy Jones trying for it in 2016...

I'd could see Audley/Holyfield still being around to contesting in the heavies as well!

With Audley still beleiving he has was it takes to become a champ and Holy just trying to feed the 1 million kids he's fathered

Super-heavies........and they'd probably have a chance with the crud in that division.